Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley’s Comet, source of the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower. Because the shower’s radiant is located below the celestial equator, southern hemisphere observers are favored, but even northerners will be able to see at least a few flecks of Halley-dust disintegrating in the atmosphere when the shower peaks this weekend.

The best time to look is during the hours before sunrise on Sunday, May 6th. Bright moonlight will cap the meteor rate at about 30 per hour. In recent nights, NASA’s all-sky meteor network has picked up a number of early eta Aquarid fireballs. www.spaceweather.com